Last week, a very wired friend of mine shared that he had downloaded a pirated advance copy of the latest Harry Potter book. He was a bit skeptical, and planned to do some research to see if it was the genuine article. As it turns out, it is, in fact, a counterfeit, and the author who wrote it was responsible for several other "adaptations" of the series, including a well circulated and widely acclaimed version of The Order of the Phoenix. Today, he was concerned that that last book he read, also an online acquisition, may have been less than authentic.

"Did Ron learn how to turn himself into a lizard?""I have to confess, at this point most of the books have blended into a single mess in my head. Still, I don't remember Ron Weasley being a lizard animage.""Well, did Harry find out that Dudley had magical abilities and was enrolling in Hogwarts?""Are you serious?""Yeah. Did it happen?""I really don't think so.""Crap." He started looking sheepish at this point. "So Malfoy didn't turn good an hook up with Ron's sister?"I'm laughing now, "Dude, if you were reading graphic sex scenes, chances are you were reading counterfeit slash.""Nonono... there weren't any sex scenes."My eyebrows raise."Really.""Ok, consider it a word to the wise."